If you have an 800 credit score, congratulations! You're one of the top 5% of Americans with this level of financial responsibility. But there's still room for improvement: Your score could be higher if you paid off more debt or had more open credit accounts. Here are some tips on how to get an even higher credit score:
Always pay your bills on time, every time.
Paying bills on time is the most important thing you can do to improve your credit score. Late payments will be reported to the credit bureaus and negatively impact your score, but there are ways around this problem.
Set up automatic payments from your checking account or bank account, so that they automatically go out each month without fail. This way, any late payments won't cause any issues with lenders who check up on what's going on in their customers' lives (and how much money they owe them).
If all else fails, try calling each creditor before the payment due date and asking if they will accept a cashier's check instead of electronic funds transfer (EFT) funds; this might save you some headaches down the road!
Pay off your credit card debt and keep your credit utilization low.
Pay off your credit card debt and keep your credit utilization low.
The second thing you can do is pay off your existing balances. This will improve your credit score by reducing the amount of available credit in the market, which will lower how much lenders are willing to lend out to you and thus raise your interest rates (and make it harder for those rates to go down). In addition, paying down debt gives them more incentive not only because they know that their money is safer with you but also because it shows good financial habits—something that most lenders look for when considering whether or not someone should be approved for a loan or other type of investment product such as insurance policies or car loans; ultimately this means less risk for them too!
Keep old, positive accounts open.
One of the most important things you can do is keep old, positive accounts open. This will help build your credit history and make it look like you've been a responsible borrower.
The longer you've had an account, the more weight it has in your credit score.
Don't close old accounts that have a high balance — even if they're no longer used!
Don't let your credit report get dirty.
When you're done with the steps above, it's tempting to just leave your account alone and hope for the best. But if you want to make sure that your credit report stays clean and up-to-date, there are a few things that can help:
Stay on top of what's happening with your accounts by checking them regularly. You'll likely find errors or outdated information that need fixing—and doing so will help avoid late payments or other problems down the line when it comes time for lenders to review your file (or worse yet, collection agencies).
Keep an eye out for fraud. If something seems fishy about a lender or business interaction (such as an offer from someone claiming they work at Acme Bank but never mentioning their last name), report it right away; otherwise they may start charging large fees in order to get payment back from unsuspecting consumers like yourself!
Check yourself once every year using free services like Credit Sesame which monitors all three major bureaus (Equifax/Trans Union/Experian) simultaneously so users know exactly where their score stands compared against everyone else who may have had similar circumstances during said period."
Only apply for new credit when you need it.
You should only apply for new credit when you need it.
If you have a lot of existing accounts and are trying to build a strong credit history, applying for new cards can be helpful in increasing your score. However, if you're new to credit or just don't know how much of your available limit should be used at once (or at all), this strategy may not be the best choice for improving your score.
To avoid overloading yourself with too many cards and paying annual fees that are way too high compared to what they offer—and consequently hurting profitability—it's important that each of these accounts has enough room in its spending limit so as not to negatively impact overall spending habits later on down the line when opening additional accounts may no longer make sense because there isn't enough money left over from previous months' expenditures combined together into one lump sum amount per month; instead it must happen incrementally throughout each month until finally reaching its full potential at some point during those same months where nothing else but additional amounts released upon request would do anything beyond simply raising balances higher than originally intended but instead only making things worse since now everything will continue growing faster than before due solely because people keep asking themselves why they didn't wait longer before asking higher amounts."
With a little know-how and hard work, an 800 credit score is within your reach.
Getting an 800 credit score is within your reach. With some know-how and hard work, an 800 credit score is within your reach.
You will need to be proactive about managing your credit and being diligent about paying bills on time. You'll also need to be disciplined in not applying for any new loans or applications when you don't need them (and make sure those accounts are paid off).
Conclusion
If you're ready to start building your credit, we've got some great resources for you. You can learn more about how to clean up your credit report and score with our free online course on Credit Repair 101.